How do you find the off-road handling in snow?
Hers is only 2wd and hasn't really been off road.
There's some good reports on Viva Vitara forum about the Vitara Allgrip's prowess off road.
I think someone went around Iceland in winter in one without trouble or effort!
They sell a lot in Aus and NZ as they love a Jap SUV for their dirt roads and reliability.
My 4x4 TA did get quite a bit of off road action though, boggy farmers fields and rutted farm tracks mainly.
It's pretty peerless in regards to grip, nothing really fazed it there, it's so light it never really broke the surface or dug in too much. (though the new Vitara doesn't weight too much more)
The standard M&S tyres a lot better than you'd think too, both in the snow and mild off road, mine left a lot of other, more expensive SUV's slipping and sliding around like ducks on ice.
I never really had to bother with ELD except when I went a bit bonkers in the snow once.
I found the front of the normal 4x4 to be a bit of a pain.
The lip/splitter of the front bumper is quite low and it's easy to catch, either crossing or just traveling down rutted farm tracks or fairly modest approach/departure angles.
The guard underneath the engine also took quite a few hard knocks.
The Cross appears better shaped at the front, though I've no experience of them.
Although very agile, it never felt that robust.
Maybe it's just me but I always felt if I did these sort of trips everyday, something would break sooner or later and although 1st gear is quite low (and very weary in stop start town driving) it's not a real crawler gear, so you can end up hammering the clutch a bit when it's a bit tricky rather than just trickle the throttle.
Something else to think about is the Duster.
They seem to have sorted their early gripes out (steer clear of early Indian built RHD models) and they are quite well thought of as a cheap softroader that can handle quite a bit of rough, they are cheap and simple and run tried and tested parts, ideal for a bit of abuse without too much wallet pain.
Funnily enough, Duster's seems to hold their price well too, they've always made the top ten least deprecating car lists for the last few years.